Renault Zoe to get smaller, improved electric motor

Renault has announced the development of a new electric motor that has been entirely designed and built in-house, and it’s set to be deployed in the Renault Zoe electric car. The new motor is smaller but is more efficient than the unit currently in use on the Zoe.

The output of the new synchronous electric motor with wound rotor, complete with an integrated Chameleon charger, is the same as that found right now – a power output of 65 kW and maximum torque of 220 Nm. The current motor is good enough to give the Zoe an operating range of 210 km on a NEDC cycle – no mention was made if there were any improvements to mileage from the new unit.

It’s a more compact offering though, with volumes reduced by 10% for the same level of performance, opening up opportunity to use the unit in smaller vehicles. The reduction has been achieved by better integration and miniaturisation of components and modules as well as a simplification of functional elements.

The electronic management and charging systems have also been refined to optimise charging time at low power (flexi-charger cable for domestic networks, 3kW and 11kW electric charging points) and electricity consumption while a vehicle is on the move. The new motor will be manufactured at Renault’s Cléon plant in France, and is expected to make its way into the Zoe next year.

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

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